Upadana

In Indian philosophy, the word
upadana denotes the “material cause”
for something, that is, the stuff from
which it is formed. Although this notion
seems obvious to modern materialist
ears, it carries several important
assumptions that not all Indian
philosophical schools were willing to
720
Uma
concede—namely, that there were real
objects in the world, that they were
made from other things, and that these
things underwent real transformations.
The notion of a material cause was held
by the “realist” schools, most notably
the Samkhya, Nyaya-Vaisheshika,
and Vishishthadvaita Vedanta. It was
opposed by the Buddhist schools, whose
assumption that reality was constantly
changing made the notion of real things
problematic. It was also opposed by the
Advaita Vedanta school, whose starting
assumption was that ultimately there
was only one “real” thing—the formless
Brahman (Supreme Reality)—and thus
that the notion of anything becoming
anything else was in error.